Program Operations Manual System (POMS)

We send correctional institutions (CI) and mental health institutions (MHIs) information for each incentive payment (IP) that we pay. This information provides CIs or MHIs with a record of each IP and gives them feedback on the success of the prisoner data that they share with us.

Each correctional institution (CI) or mental health institution (MHI) that participates in the agency’s Prisoner Incentive Payment Program (PIPP) receives a notice providing information about the institution’s monthly IPs. We send a notice to a CI or MHI for each month the CI or MHI receives an electronic funds transfer (EFT) deposited to its bank account for an eligible IP.

For a description of the contents of the IP notice, see GN 02607.800D.

We place a copy of each CI or MHI’s IP notice on the Online Retrieval System (ORS) under the Folder Name, “PRISONERS.”

For instructions on accessing and viewing the CI or MHI’s IP notice, see GN 02607.830A.2. in this section.

You can view individual copies of a CI or MHI’s IP notices in ORS, go to the Folder Name, “PRISONERS.” Obtain the facility identification number (FAC #) from the facility’s Incarceration Report and Controls System (IRCS) Reporter screen labeled, FACILITY ID NUMBERS ASSIGNED TO REPORTER QUERY (QRI2) screen, or from the facility’s Incentive Payment Identification Query (QPID) screen, FACILITY ID NUMBER field.

For information on the Quai screen, see MSOM PRISON 002.011, and for information on the QPID screen, see MSOM PRISON 002.014.

The Facility ID code is also located on the actual Prisoner Update Processing System (PUPS) record on which we paid the IP. You will need the full Social Security number (SSN) to locate that specific prisoner record on PUPS. Use the six-digit Facility ID number in ORS to recall and view a facility’s IP notice.

CIs or MHIs generally contact the local field office (FO) with questions about the IP notice. Specifically, an institution may question an inmate’s identity, confinement information recorded on the IP notice, or the IP amounts listed on the notice. For instructions on responding to CI or MHI questions on IP notices, see GN 02607.830B.1. in this section.

Request the CI or MHI to provide you with precise details (SSN, name, pertinent dates, specific IP in question and the IP amount, bank account information, etc.) to assist your IP investigation. The information should include:

the alleged SSN and name of the inmate for whom the CI or MHI did not receive payment; and

a mail receipt date that indicates the date the CI or MHI sent the inmate data to SSA; and

banking information needed to resolve the inquiry; and

if the inquiry is regarding a missing or reduced EFT deposit, obtain the date Treasury deposited the IP money into the CI’s or MHI’s bank account and the missing amount of the deposit.

After obtaining the precise information regarding the IP notice inquiry:

Review the CI’s or MHI’s IP notice on ORS, and

Obtain any necessary PUPS or IRCS records that provide insight into the question or problem with the IP notice contents and,

Compare the questioned or disputed IP notice issue with the PUPS or IRCS records, banking records, or other information or documents provided by the CI or MHI. To find responses to questions or disagreements with the general content on an IP notice, see GN 02607.830B.1.a. in this section.

Contact the institution and provide them with the results of your investigation after you complete your investigation of the question or dispute and obtain an answer to the CI’s or MHI’s question or problem.

FOs will use the information in the chart to respond to the most commonly asked IP notice questions received from a CI or MHI.

CI’s or MHI’s IP Notice Questions

Responses to Questions and Actions

Can you change the mailing address on my IP notice?

Response:

We cannot change the address on the IP notice unless we receive the request directly from the correctional or mental health agency or authority that signed the Incentive Payment Memorandum of Understanding (IPMOU) reporting agreement between your agency or institution and SSA.

Action:

Do not change the address for the IP notice unless you receive a request from the CI or MHI agency or authority that signed the IPMOU reporting agreement with SSA. The CI or MHI agency or authority that signed the IPMOU is the entity listed on the Reporter Identification Data (IRID) screen on the Incarceration Report and Controls System (IRCS). If you receive a request for an address change from the CI or MHI agency or institution that signed the IPMOU, email the change of address to your Regional Prisoner Coordinator (RPC). For information on the name of your RPC, see GN 2607.990.

Can you tell me more information about inmate XYZ identified on our IP notice’s payment chart?

Response:

We cannot provide more personally identifiable information about an incarcerated beneficiary or a recipient to you than we currently provide in your incentive payment notice.

Action:

None.

What is the full Social Security Number of inmate XYZ listed on the attachment to our IP notice?

Response:

We do not provide the full social security number on the incentive payment notice. We only provide the last four digits of a social security number on your incentive payment notice because of our agency’s mandate to protect and safeguard personally identifiable information.

Action:

None.

How can I get a copy of our last IP notice?

Response:

We can print a copy of the notice and mail it to you.

Action:

Print a copy of a CI’s or MHI’s IP notice from ORS and mail it to the inquirer. For information on viewing reporter notices on ORS, see GN 02607.830A.2. in this section.

My bank changed their routing number. How can I get SSA to update the new routing information to my IP bank account? or

I changed banks. What do I have to do to get SSA to update my new bank account for my IPs?

Response:

We will refer your request for banking changes to our Regional Prisoner Coordinator for action.

Action:

Email all CI or MHI requests for banking changes to your RPC. For information on contacting your RPC, see GN 02607.990.

Our bank incorrectly returned the IP direct deposit payment. How can we get the IP money back from SSA?

Response:

You can contact our Payment Inquiries Services via email at Payment.Inquiries@ssa.gov, or by calling (410) 965-0607. Our customer service representatives are available Monday through Friday between 8:00am and 4:30pm Eastern Standard Time.

Action:

None.

The direct deposit payment made to our bank account this month is less than the amount stated in our IP notice that we received from SSA. Why didn’t we receive the entire IP deposit in our bank account?

Response:

SSA authorized the full amount of incentives that we provided in our IP notice to you. If your deposit was less than what we authorized, your payment was offset by the Department of Treasury for a debt your agency/institution owed another agency. You can call the Treasury Debt Offset Help Desk at 1-866-606-8220 for information about the reduced direct deposit amount.

Action:

None.

We want to receive our IP money as a paper check instead of a direct deposit to our bank account. Can SSA cut us a check versus sending the IP money to our bank account?

Verify that IRCS has the correct direct deposit data on file for the CI or MHI. You can find the CI’s or MHI’s bank account information on the PUPS Facility Identification Query (QFID) screen. For information on IP disbursements, see GN 02607.800C.1., and for information on the QFID screen, see MS PRISON 002.013.

The IP payment you just sent us did not include payment for inmate XYZ that we reported on last month’s prisoner report. Why wasn’t the IP money for this inmate included in my recent bank deposit?

Response:

There is no connection between your monthly inmate report and payment of an incentive payment. Our incentive payment system generates an incentive payment only after we develop a beneficiary’s or recipient’s inmate report and suspend his or her monthly benefits or payments. Sometimes it takes us several months to legally suspend or stop a beneficiary’s or recipient’s monthly benefits as a “prisoner.”

Action:

None.

On our last IP notice, you stated that our jail confined inmate John Doe beginning with March 2015. Our jail never had custody of inmate John Doe. Based on his court record, the court ordered John Doe confined to ABC County Jail beginning March 2015. What should we do with the IP money you sent us for this inmate?

Response:

Return the incorrectly paid incentive payment back to SSA. We will mail you a letter describing how to return the incentive payment.

Action:

Prepare an SSA-L4020 form Prisoner Incentive Payment Recoupment Form and mail it to the institution. The SSA-L4020 provides instructions for returning the IP. For instructions on completing the SSA-L4020 form, see GN 02607.832C.1.

SSA shorted my jail $200 on last month’s IP deposit. We included all our April inmate admissions when we submitted our monthly report to SSA on May 5, 2015. SSA only paid us $200 instead of $400 for inmate John Doe, who we admitted on April 1, 2015. Why did we only receive $200?

Response:

We pay incentive payments in the amounts of:

$400 for reported inmate information received within 30 days after an inmate’s date of confinement; or

$200 within 90 days after an inmate’s date of confinement.

We do not pay anything for reports submitted 91 days or more after and inmate’s admission.

If we paid you $200 instead of $400, we did not receive your report within 30 days after an inmate’s admission or confinement date.

You should send us your inmate report on the 28 - 30th day of a calendar month, or report your inmates to us twice per month. Revising your reporting day during a month will help you qualify for the maximum incentive payment of $400 per each beneficiary’s or recipient’s suspension.

Would you like to receive more information on our incentive payment program? We have a fact sheet that explains how our program works, it is called, ‘Incentive Payments to State and Local Institutions," (EN-05-10088.pdf)? If you have access to the internet, you can a copy of the fact sheet on our website, www.socialsecurity.gov. Go to the search field and key in the term, “EN-05-10088,” or “Incentive Payments to State and Local Institutions.”

You may receive an inquiry that you cannot answer without further guidance from your Regional Prisoner Coordinator (RPC). For information on contacting your RPC, see GN 02607.990.

To process these types of inquiries:

Contact your RPC via email and relay the question or problem inquiry to the RPC via email for further action. The email should clearly state the nature of the IP question or problem and the initial results of the FO investigation.

RPC will resolve the question or problem and notify you via email or phone of the outcome.

Contact the CI or MHI and provide them the results of our investigation.

NOTE: The RPC may contact Central Office (CO) (i.e., Office of Income Security Programs, Office of Representative Payee and Due Process Policy) for assistance in resolving questions or disagreements regarding the contents of IP notices, if necessary.

If the CI or MHI inquiry requires us to pay additional IP money, the FO will forward all incoming information from the CI or MHI and the results of the IP investigation to the RPC. The FO prepares a manual IP request and emails it along with the IP inquiry information to the RPC.

The RPC will review the request for a manual IP and the accompanying investigation materials. If payment of the additional IP monies is valid, the RPC forwards the manual IP request to Central Office (CO) for final authorization and payment.

CO will review and evaluate the request and any evidence of the investigation that explains the circumstances for the additional payment. CO authorizes a manual IP, if appropriate. CO notifies the RPC of the outcome of the additional IP investigation.

D. Processing Center (PC)/Office of Central Operations-Office of Disability Operations (OCO-ODO) receives a question about an IP from a CI or MHI

If the PC/OCO-ODO receives a report from a CI or MHI concerning a question or a dispute with the amount of an IP, forward the CI or MHI’s questions or IP dispute to the FO that services the address of the CI or MHI via a Modernized Development Worksheet (MDW). The FO will investigate the dispute and resolve the question or problem per the instructions in GN 02607.830B. in this section.